PRINCIPLES OF PLAY / STYLES OF PLAY
Thank you for volunteering to coach a Jr. Eagles Basketball team this year.
The Jr. Eagles Basketball program is an extension of the high school teams (Boys & Girls) at Liberty High School. We, the high school coaches, will do everything we can to help you align your instruction / terminology with what we are doing at the Frontier Middle School and Liberty High School levels.
The Liberty Basketball program utilizes a Constraints Led Approach (CLA) to teaching the game of basketball. CLA replaces rigid, repetitive drills with game-like, small-sided games to guide players through their skill acquisition.
CLA provides many advantages but arguably the most important benefit in developing young athletes is their practices will be more fun, dynamic and competitive.
In developing a particular skill or to teach a particular concept you will sometimes put the offense or defense at a disadvantage. This can be accomplished by limiting the number of players in the small sided game or by where you start the players on the court. Sometimes it's as simple as saying Team A can't shoot until they get the ball in the paint. By constraining one aspect you can perpetuate the action / response you are targeting.
As a coach in our Jr. Eagles Feeder program you are key to building the foundation for our middle school and high school teams. While learning to compete is a skill and we want our feeder teams to help teach these athletes how to play "winning" basketball, winning every game isn't the objective. You are building athletes / teammates for the future that will need certain skills in order to compete for a spot on a middle school and high school team. Nobody is going to remember their record as a member of the 6th Grade White team.
We realize it's difficult for many because of the time of day, but should you ever want to visit for a high school practice you are always invited. Just reach out to Coach Ashby and let him know you would like to attend. Our high school teams typically practice right after school, however during the early part of the season there will be some practices in the 4:30pm - 6:30pm window.
PRINCIPLES OF PLAY:
Space before advantage, advantage before shot:
- Numbers Advantage (5v4, 4v3, 3v2, etc)
- Space Advantage (Offensive player with the ball has space to get off an "easy and open" shot.)
- 2 on the ball Advantage (When 2 defenders are on the ball, there is an advantage elsewhere on the floor. Key is being able to move the ball quickly enough to exploit the advantage)
- Overplay Advantage (Defenders will overplay a teammate which triggers a back door cut. The back door cut will either lead to an easy and open shot, or a help defender will be forced to shift to our open player. This triggers a domino effect and it's our job to move the ball to where we have the advantage)
Drive Double and Triple Gaps, pass thru Single Gaps: (Gaps are explained via the Drill Library below) We want to compress space behind the ball to create space in front of the ball. Driving a double or triple gap will generate paint touches and in turn force the defense to make decisions (help defense). Once the defense is forced to rotate we have them in "dominoes" where they are constantly chasing to get to "neutral". Neutral is defined as the offense and defense being on equal footing....no advantage for the offense.
Shot Selection: We shoot "easy and open" shots. Easy will be defined differently for every player based on their skill set. Using our high school team as an example, a player who shoots 40% behind the 3 point line may have an easy shot when open from 20 feet from the basket, whereas a player who is open behind the 3 point line but shoots 20% doesn't have the "easy" part of the equation. You can also use the Gold Medal, Silver Medal, Bronze Medal analogy, where uncontested layups are "Gold", a shot in range and on balance is a "Silver". We want to shoot Gold and Silver medal shots.
Play Fast: We want to beat teams down the floor in offensive transition to create easy opportunities and similarly want to convert in defensive transition to limit disadvantages. Early Pitch Aheads (EPA's) are vital to playing fast. If a teammate is ahead of you and they are open, pitch it ahead. Share the ball early.
Defensive Principles: We want to dictate to the offense what they can do and where the ball can go.
- Limit paint touches
- Force contested shots (No Gold or Silver Medal Shots allowed)
- On ball pressure
- Active hands to limit passing windows, impact vision of the ball handler, contesting shooters
- Keep the ball on a sideline, don't let the ball go middle
STYLE OF PLAY:
Offensively we want to teach positionless basketball. Just because a player is your tallest on the team at 5th grade doesn't mean they will end up being the tallest player in high school. Everyone needs to handle the basketball in games and learn every position on the floor.
Defensively all teams will play man-to-man defense. We require this of our 8th Grade Coach and Freshmen Coach as being able to guard the ball, understanding help principles are vital for us at the high school JV and Varsity levels. You will see us changing defenses at the JV and Varsity levels from man-to-man to a variety of zone defenses, but nothing works without players understanding man-to-man defensive concepts.
We support all of our feeder teams playing a zone defense when the opponent is throwing the ball in on the baseline (BLOB). Once the ball is inbounds and contained, we match up immediately man to man. We support this as it will help you spend more time developing skills in practice instead of worrying about guarding the 100 different out of bounds plays you could see. Key principle here is limit easy shots around the rim and contain the ball to limit offensive advantages on a set play.
PLAYING TIME:
Rosters were created to provide every athlete the opportunity to play a meaningful role on their respective team. The CNR Basketball League will feature a 40 minute game with a running clock for most of the game. Each player should play the same amount over the first 30 minutes of a 40 minute game. Over the last 8 to 10 minutes of the game you can manage your substitutions to close out a game if you are ahead or to close the gap if you are behind. This doesn't mean a player sits the entire last 8 or 10 minutes, but you can look to sub to put a weaker player in a position where they can make their biggest impact. For example, if a player struggles to make free throws and you are ahead, but is a great defender, sub this player in to guard the other teams best player for a few minutes. Sub them out when you go on offense so they aren't the player being fouled. Clearly if a player is in foul trouble early this can impact how you manage their minutes.
RESPECTING OPPONENTS AND OFFICIALS:
We are role models for the players and fans on our team. As coaches we are tasked with being leaders in how we treat opponents and officials in our game. You will play teams that don't take this as seriously as they should, but we will take the high road. You will inevitably have some basketball officials who are newer to their role. The game needs more young officials so it's extremely important we treat them with courtesy and respect. Should a coach get a technical foul for whatever reason, CNR Basketball emails the high school coach or program director.